


Section Seven

by chachkisalpaca



Category: RuPaul's Drag Race RPF
Genre: Jason works at a library, Library AU, M/M, Short Story, matt is a college student, pearlet, the summary is foreshadowing dont let your instinct tell you otherwise, there's drama and angst too, they met and shit happens, under editing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-06
Updated: 2018-05-06
Packaged: 2019-05-03 01:41:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14558079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chachkisalpaca/pseuds/chachkisalpaca
Summary: When Jason started working at the local library, he met Matthew. The boy who sleeped deeply in section 7; in between children's stories and dramatic novels.





	1. First Day

**Author's Note:**

> edit: 21/02/19 - the chapter is edited completely, including some new short parts, and i hope you like it!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jason doesn't like being a librarian, until he meets someone at section seven.

“I think that's all you need to know, Jay,” Mrs. Bloom said, hanging Jason a piece of paper in blank with a pin in the middle. “Write your name there with a marker, after that you can help me with organizing the books that are left in the tables.” Jason nodded, pinning the piece of paper in his t-shirt.

Working in a library wasn’t exactly what he envisioned for his senior year, but it was better than babysitting kids or being a butcher. Plus, there was almost nobody and he would get paid for just standing there and organizing books. Besides, he had to get an extra income to start saving up for college. 

Jason saw Mrs. Bloom going back to the counter to do God knows what. Jason started walking around the tables, seeing if there were books left. He took them and looked for their original places, at first he was confused, trying to figure out what type of literary genre they were, after some minutes, he noticed the big label in all the back of the books with their genre. 

It wasn't complicated, Jason thought, but it wasn't also a lot of fun. The library was quiet, the only audible noise came from his footsteps. It was logical, who in the hell would be there in a saturday morning besides him? Jason knew for a fact that last night Valentina and Kurtis went to Katya’s party — they were probably still sleeping, tired and with the worst hangover ever.

Jason sighed, thinking about how boring this was. He couldn't stand the silence surrounding the library, it was suffocating him. Jason regretted the instant he forgot his headphones, reminding himself to bring them the next time he went to work.

He continued to do his job, grabbing books and placing them in their bookcase. About half an hour had passed but the minutes felt like days, he was about to sit on a chair and sleep due to his boredom, when he saw someone already doing that in section seven.   
It was a boy. Maybe a few years older than him, with messy hair, caught by a turned-over cap and a leather jacket. He slept using his backpack as a pillow and there was a book opened in the middle at his side. Jason thought he was attractive even while sleeping. But Mrs. Bloom would lecture him for letting the stranger sleep without doing anything, so he approached him and patted his shoulder.   
  
"Hey, wake up." He shook him slightly as he spoke. After some minutes he saw the guy straighten up and stretch his limbs. “Will you continue reading that book? If not, I must put it in its place,” he asked, the boy massaged his eyes and turned to see him, revealing the bluest eyes he has ever seen.   
  
“Yeah, I'm sorry. I fell asleep reading,” he replied, Jason noticed that his jacket had the logo of the architecture college. But the book resting near him was about the history of art. “Things from college, you know, projects here and there; I'd like to sleep more.” Jason nodded, taking a book from the other end of the table and placing it on the corresponding shelf.   
  
"I know, although I'm still in high school, so I should take advantage, I suppose," he mumbled, but with the silence in the library the stranger heard him and smiled. Jason thought he had a pretty smile.   
  
“What's your name?” he asked, closing the book and putting it in his backpack, probably to borrow it. Jason remembered that he had forgotten to write his name on his badge.   
  
"Jason Dardo," he introduced himself, smiling at him.   
  
"Matthew Lent." They stared at each other for a couple of seconds, until he started walking towards the exit, probably. "Thank you for waking me up, I owe you one, see you."   
  
Jason waved his hand, unable to say anything else to the cute boy who had just left. He sighed.   
  
"He's probably straight," he lamented, settling the books again, this time, as he wondered if Matthew would return to the library next Sunday.


	2. Bandaids And Broken Noses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Valentina's boyfriend is a jerk.

When monday came, the first thing Jason saw when he arrived to school was Valentina crying behind her locker. He would have pitied her, if it wasn't because he knew the reason of her tears and was tired of it. Valentina was dating a guy much older than her, about to end the law career. He was a royal jerk, always cheating on her and humiliating Valentina in front of everyone. He still couldn't figure out why she was still with him.

“Hey Val, what happened?” he asked. She wiped her tears before turning back to see him. 

“Hi, Jay, uh, nothing. I just…” before she could end the sentence, she bursted in tears again, hugging Jason as a way to comfort herself. He pet her hair, while saying everything was okay. “I can't stand him anymore! He's always such a jerk to me! Ugh, you won't believe what he did this time.” between sobs and tears, Jason understood something about finding him with a girl in his apartment and blaming his infidelity to Valentina's idea of being virgin until they got married.

“Then why don't you break up with him?” he questioned, in another useless attempt to convince her to end with Richard. That wouldn't happen anytime soon, he knew it. Valentina was incapable of admitting her mistakes when it came down to guys.

Valentina sighed, saying for the million time ' _ it's not that easy’.   _ Jason tried to understand the reasons why Valentina wouldn’t let Richard go, but at this point he simply couldn’t anymore. He never had a boyfriend before but he did knew love wasn't supposed to hurt or make you unhappy. 

When the bell rang, Kurtis appeared, late as always. He said something about an alarm that didn't sound and traffic — the usual thing. They walked to their first class, talking about the weekend and Jason's new job. He omitted the part of the cute guy he met, since he was probably straight and there was no point on thinking about him anyway. 

“How was your first day at job, Jay?” Valentina inquired, turning back on her seat to see him. Jason shrugged, not really wanting to talk about it or we would inevitably talk about Matthew.

“I mean, it was okay. I didn't expect so much from a library, Mrs. Bloom is a nice lady. She's like those old woman kids in the neighbourhood would call 'grandma’ and go to her house to eat cookies.” Kurtis and Valentina said an 'aw’ in chorus. It was true though, Mrs. Bloom did look like those type of grannies and he was sure she'd make cookies for him if he asked.

“I still can't believe you work in a library. I thought you would look for a job in a bar, coffee shop or something like those cliché movies about teenagers, you know?” Kurtis made doodles with his pen on the table. Jason laughed a little, Kurtis was a hopeless romantic boy that read more books for teens than anything in his life. 

“Sometimes it's good not being a cliché,” he answered, leaning in the back of his chair as he started to write what the teacher was writing in the board.

The day went by in a blink, between Kurtis falling from a chair in the cafetería, breaking some things in the process, and Valentina’s little fight with a girl in her chemistry class, Aja apparently, Jason didn't notice when the bell rang, this time for going home. He walked through the corridors, checking his phone without so much interest. Then, he got a message from Kurtis.

_ Kurt: Where are you?! Richard is here at the entrance, and he’s not happy.  _

_ Val is okay, but he made her cry again. _

After reading the message, Jason began to run to the entrance of the school. He then saw Kurtis arguing with Richard and Valentina hiding behind the school doors.The school had a front playground and then huge, tall brown doors that leaded to the main hall, Valentina was hiding behind the hole of the left door while Kurtis pacified Richard. He first went to check on Valentina, as she was shaking and hugging herself.

“Val, girl, is everything okay? Did he hurt you?” he breathed out, catching his breath. She shook his head.

“No no, I'm fine. Kurt pulled him away from me before he could do anything, but…” Valentina fell in silence, looking away-

“What is he doing here, anyway? Shouldn’t he be at college?” Jason inquired, peeking from time to time to see if Kurtis was still entertaining him. Valentina sighed.

“He wanted me to apologize for telling my parents he cheated on me, apparently they told his parents and now they cancelled his credit cards.”

Jason’s heart hammered against his chest with nothing but anger towards Richard.

He murmured some soft words to Valentina before heading out to confront Richard. He wasn’t thinking, he just wanted him to leave her alone. Jason approached to Kurtis, placing a hand on his shoulder, interrupting Richard from his insults directed to his friend.

“What do you want?” he spit with anger in his direction. 

“I want you to leave her alone,” Jason ordered. Richard was taller and stronger than him, but there was no way he would let him hurt his friend anymore. 

Richard smiled in a cynical, spooky way that made Kurtis legs shake, trying to lean on Jason, who wasn't afraid of no douchebag.

“Or what? Don't tell me your high schooler ass will even attempt to defend that wh—” 

“Her name is Valentina,” Jason interrupted him before he could insult his friend. “And if you don’t leave her alone, we won't answer for our actions.”

“What he said!” Kurtis exclaimed, trying to look intimidating. Richard laughed, and then pushed Jason away, making him fall to the ground.

Jason felt the anger growing inside him. He didn't understand Richard at all. He was studying law, but he didn't hesitate to break the rules that he was taught to respect.   
  
He hurried to get up from the floor when he saw that he was approaching the place where Valentina was hiding, a sudden feelings of protection hit  him. There was no way he would let him do anything to Valentina. Jason stumbled when he was standing up, but he didn’t stop. He run up to Richard, and before he knew it, Richard fell to the ground with a bleeding nose.

“Guys! Let's go!” Kurtis hurried them, grabbing Valentina’s hand.

They ran away to the nearest bus stop, since they lived in the same neighborhood, and waited impatiently. Jason's mind was still on how to explain his mom the little bruise on his left cheek and his fist with dry blood.

In the late afternoon, he had to go back to the library. Jason worked three days a week after class and on Sunday mornings. At least he had plenty of books to help him do homework and a pretty great wifi connection, he cheered himself up.

When he arrived, there wasn't many people, just a few moms with their kids and some people reading quietly in their tables. Mrs. Bloom had told him that he could do his homework first and then get back to work — he was her employee but first he was a student. Jason smiled, thanking her and went to look for a free table. It had to be noted; there were many free tables, but he wanted the one in section seven, between kids books and dramatic novels.  _ Or _ , the place where he met Matthew.

He wasn't obsessed with him, at all. He just saw him once, Jason just thought... He didn't know what he thought. Maybe, that Matt was too hot for being straight. Or that he had a pretty smile. Or maybe he had the bluest eyes he had ever seen and seemed to be a cute guy.

_ Ugh, too many “or”,  _ he thought, sitting down and taking his notebook out. Matthew wasn't around; it was logical. Maybe he was doing internships, maybe he was still at college, maybe he had better things to do than go to the library just so Jason could stare at him behind the notebook.

“Hey, is this seat taken?” someone asked in a whisper, Jason lifted his gaze and he couldn't breathe when he realized who was standing in front of him. 

Matthew.

He still had his cap turned, the messy hair underneath, and the college jacket. Jason noticed a pen stuck in his ear. He sighed; college people was weird.

“Not really,” he muttered, he saw him while he dragged the chair and left his backpack in the table, taking out a book and a pencil. Jason focused his attention again in his homework shortly after.

They didn't exchange any more words, just casual glances when one of them took a break, until Matthew let a loud sigh and leaned on the back of the chair, crossing his arms over his head.

“Don't you sometimes ask yourself why you have to study instead of just, doing nothing all day and be happy?” Matthew questioned, making Jason laugh a little, distracting him from his lecture.

“All the time.” his answer made him smile this time, and Jason's heart skipped a bit. “If you feel that way, why you're in college then?” Instead of being offended, Matthew shrugged and leant on his elbows, staring at the younger boy.

“Sometimes we have to do things we don't like for having a decent future.” Jason thought about the book of ‘Art Through The Years’ he saw him reading the previous day, but didn't bring it up.

“Deep,” Jason answered, making Matthew laugh. “What are you studying?” The dumb question made Jason want to slap himself.

Matt turned his cap and pointed to the big logo of the university of Saint Asonia for Architecture with a smirk.

“I clearly go to Harvard,” he joked, Jason held a nervous laugh. When Jason turned his face to take something from his backpack, Matthew saw the band aid resting over his cheek. “What happened to you?” he wondered, now pointing to his cheek. The air vanished from Jason's lungs as he remembered the little fight he was involved in before.

“I fell to the ground.” It wasn't a lie though, he did fell; but someone else pushed him. Matthew arched a brow, for his reaction, it wasn't just a silly accident. But it wasn't his business, so he stayed silent.

“Well, seems that today is day of getting yourself hurt, a friend of mine broke his nose because someone punched him.” Jason felt paralyzed, breath getting caught in his throat. Was he talking about Richard? No. No way. Richard was in an entire different college,  _ but… _

“Ouch. How did he break his nose?” Jason wondered, placing his hands on his knees, trying to stop shaking. Matthew sighed.

“He went to face his girlfriend at her school for cheating on him I think? And the girl’s friends got in between, one of them punched him when the girl faked crying.” Jason clenched his jaw, he was talking about Valentina. He knew it. It sounded oddly familiar, but at the same time no. “I told him not to get involved with high school girls, they are problematic.” 

Jason breathed in and out before getting up from the chair and pack away in a hurry all his stuff. 

“Maybe he deserved it.” And with that he left to do his work, not letting Matthew answer.


	3. A Little Help

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit, 23/12/2018: chapter edited! The middle changed a lot, and I prefer it this way. Hope you guys like it too!

Jason left, leaving Matthew unable to answer. He felt like there was no need to stay and listen him insult Valentina without knowing her. ‘I have to tell Val’, he thought. Jason always saw Richard as a bad guy, but lying to people just to make Valentina look like the villain? Who does that?

Perhaps there was something Valentina wasn't telling them? Every time he was alone, Jason thought about it. He loved Valentina in a brothers way, he was certainly not happy seeing her tied to a douchebag.

“He clearly doesn't know him,” he mumbled, putting on his badge. “He's just- just- ugh. Why do I bother? He's surely a jerk like his friend.”

“Who's a jerk?” a voice spoke from behind, Jason gasped in surprise and turned to see Matthew. He frowned, was this guy following him? Why? He had work to do, didn't he know?

Jason decided to ignore him and tried to walk away again, this time he was stopped by Matthew's firm grip on his wrist. Matt looked at him; the lazy smile was now gone and he had a serious face.

"Do you know Richard?" Jason thought it would be better to say no, just until he could decipher the man's intentions.

"I don't know who you're talking about," he replied haughtily. Matt frowned, but Jason wasn't intimidated, after so many years of teasing and intimidation, Jason lost the fear to Matthew’s type.

"So, how do you know my friend deserved what happened to him?" The words got stuck in his throat, trying to invent quickly an excuse. He wasn't going to tell Matthew the truth — he was a practical stranger that was friends with the person he hated the most.

"Well… Making her cry is a good reason," he said, stumbling. Matthew narrowed his eyes, skeptical. “I still don’t know him, though.”

“You're a bad liar” He muttered, looking right into his eyes, “You know Richard, and probably you also know the guy who beat him” Matt tightened his grip on Jason's wrist, he held a whimper. It was starting to hurt, but he wouldn't say it out loud.

“You know, if I knew —and I don’t— you wouldn’t get a single word out of me being as rude as you’re being.” Jason looked him from head to toe, feeling his grip loosening.

Matthew groaned under his breath, letting his hand go, looking away. “I’m sorry, I guess. I’m just… Protective of my friends.”

Jason knew about being protective over your loved ones, but he usually didn’t grab a semi strangers’ wrist while they were trying to do their job.

Jason crossed his arms over his chest. “Listen, I get that; but you can’t interfere with my job.” He furrowed his brow. Matthew bit the inside of his cheek.

“I’m sorry,” he repeated. “Can I help you out with something? As a compensation for being an asshole, I mean.” He half smiled awkwardly, but Jason nodded with a warm smile.

“Sure, you can help me by placing these books,” e placed some heavy books in Matt’s hands and pointed at the top of the shelves, “up there, I can’t reach it if you can tell.” Matthew chuckled softly, but nodded.

“Okay, sure, I got this.”

Matt started to do what Jason said, as he ordered the books in the lower shelves. Matthew slowly forgot everything about Richard and the lectures he had to do for tomorrow; the only thing he could focus on was helping Jason, and the mystery of the bandaid laying in his cheek.

He knew he didn’t fall.


	4. Stop Telephoning Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Valentina has had it, officially.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off, I'm so sorry for having nearly abandoned this project. I have no excuse, hate me if you want, but I'm back and this time is for real. 
> 
> After many editions, I've settled with this one. If you havent read the previous editions, please so do you can understand it better. 
> 
> I'm back for one person and one person only, the nice sort of anon that left such a beautiful comment on last chapter. This one's for you, sweet heart. ❤

When Jason’s shift ended, Matt was still there helping him. They didn’t notice the hours going away, between casual chats and sneaky glances. In the end, Matt forgot everything about Richard’s broken nose, sweeping it under the rug.

Matt had offered to walk Jason to the bus stop, he didn’t live that far anyway; a little walk wouldn’t hurt. They were asking each other random questions while the bus came, and Matt had some weird questions, in Jason’s opinion.

“Okay, so, last question, my bus is going to arrive at any moment,” Jason commented, holding his backpack closer, “Are you always so protective? I mean, all cool with that, but just  _ maybe  _ your friend, the one I called asshole, is a real one.” he dared to question, once he saw the bus around the corner, Matt’s smile vanished from his face, as he stared to the ground.

There was an awkward silence and the bus was getting closer and closer, Matt spoke when it was some meters away.

“He maybe is. But a broken nose and a black eye is enough to make me protective and, you know, forget about my manners.”

_ Hold on, a black eye? _ Jason thought, trying to remember if Kurtis or him had punched Richard in the eye. They didn’t, and something inside Jason started to burn. He lied, he clearly did; Jason just remembered punching his nose but he couldn’t recall if it was strong enough to break it.

The bus arrived to its stop, and jason muttered a quick goodbye before climbing up. Matt stopped him again, but this time he didn’t hold his wrist back.

“Hey, do you have instagram or something? I think you’re cool.” Matt smiled a little, the question made Jason blush and stutter, trying to remember his username for the love of everything holy.

“It’s just Jason underscore Dardo. No way you can get it wrong. See you around.” Jason waved at Matt and got up on the bus, the vehicle closed its door almost immediately, since he was the only passenger.

Matt mumbled an ‘See you’ under his breath, as he made his way back home. He had a shy smile trying to appear on his face, but he tried to ignore it. He hurried his steps, since it was getting dark and he knew what would happen if he was late. Matt sighed, clinging to his backpack for dear life.

Meanwhile, Jason was frantically texting Kurtis and Valentina in their group chat; this new discovery couldn’t go under the radar; he had to tell them and it had to be right now. He was telling them all the details without the need of a response, when he got a notification from Instagram.

His mouth curved in a smile when he saw the follow from Matt.

 

-

 

Jason slammed his hands dawn in Valentina’s table, with Kurtis by his side.

“I hope you read the group chat texts last night,” he began, Valentina sighed, putting her pen down, “I’ll take that as a yes.”

“I did, and I had very vivid dreams of punching Richard in the face,” she groaned. Valentina wished she had the courage to do so, though. “I can’t believe he’s such a liar! If it wasn't because… Nevermind.” Valentina shook her head, looking away.

“If it wasn't because of what?” Kurtis questioned, confused. It then clicked to him what was going on. “You still won't leave him, will you?”

Valentina shied away from their gaze, not knowing what to say. It was a more difficult situation than it appeared to be, and she wasn't sure if Jason and Kurtis would understand her point of view.

She sighed. “He texted my parents last night, asking them to join his family at brunch on saturday,” she informed, digging her nails into her palms to keep herself from going absolutely feral.

Jason and Kurtis exchanged a look. By Valentina's expression, they knew she hadn't said anything about what happened with Richard. Jason placed a hand on Valentina's shoulder.

“Val, you know we love you,” he began, lifting her chin so she met his gaze. “But we can't understand why you let him use you.”

Valentina breathed in sharply, her heart hammering against her chest with violence. She wanted to tell them, Lord knew she did, but she wasn't sure it was the right time.

She parted her lips slightly, tasting the truth at the tip of her tongue. She was about to let it out, when the class door was shut closed and in came Miss Flowers.

Miss Flowers asked everyone to go to their seats and take their books out. Valentina shot Jason and Kurtis a sorry look before muttering a “sorry” and doing what Miss Flowers indicated.

Valentina's telephone lit up and notified her of a new message. She sighed when she saw the name on the screen and turned it off. Tapping her pen against her book, she decided she'd had it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you liked the chapter, let me know! Hit me up at @chachkisalpaca on Tumblr :)


End file.
